The Best Gift
by Crimson Flares
Summary: modern day AU — In which Natsume escapes from his birthday celebration and spends his evening talking to a weird girl at a cafe. "Meeting her was the best gift I ever had." —Natsume [One-shot, tribute for Natsume's birthday]


**The Best Gift**

**by Crimson Flares**

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><p><em><strong>a modern AU one-shot<strong>_

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><p><strong>AN: I swore to myself that the next time I post GA would be in 2015, but when I was miserably dozing off in Chemistry 8, I suddenly woke up and "Oh, it's November 27th and it's Natsume's birthday" and then I cried and then wrote this as soon as I got my phone charged.**

**And The Selection is still alive, yes. XD It's just hibernating... apparently so.**

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><p>Winter has never been Natsume's thing.<p>

It was cold, and bare. Everything was white. Christmas was coming and every building was blasting off holiday music, people bustling in and out of the streets with arms filled with bags and wrapped presents, plus the silly green and red decorations plastered on every possible surface and the fat old guys clad in red and white fluffy jumpsuits.

Natsume thought it was all ridiculous.

He parked his car outside a small, two-story building downtown. The upper half of the building was simple and brown, with a small balcony on top, indicating that it was a home. The lower half, meanwhile, was had glass for a frontier wall and had an 'open, welcome home' sign stuck on the door.

Natsume took a whiff of the coffee- incensed fragrance upon entering the café. The place was not too large, but not too small; cakes and pastries hidden behind a panel of glass lined the counter and not too many were occupying seats. The guard who stood by the door greeted Natsume a good evening, but he merely nodded, heading straight to the counter.

A brunette was standing behind it. She was a little petite and had a ridiculously beautiful smile plastered on her face. A stray blow of winter chill crawled by her auburn locks, distracting her as she tucked her hair back, eyebrows pulling down her light brown eyes which were specked with bits of olive and emerald.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. Natsume thought so, but he was not, or at least, never speaking that out loud, nor would he deny so.

"Oh, good evening!" The girl said as she noticed him, the smile on her face unfaltering. "What would your order be, sir?"

"You."

"Oh no, please, don't even try. You're the fifth one today, and this is getting a little toocliché, isn't it?" she said. Natsume shot her a crooked smirk, suddenly forgetting about the ridiculous season.

"Well," he began, catching her eyes. "Cliche? It's not everyday that a handsome creäture such as I say they want you, right? Why is this cliché?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "It is such because one, you're not handsome and two, you're not even actually handsome."

"That's basically the same thing."

"Uh-huh."

"And you're the first female who had ever said that. Are you sure you're a girl, miss?"

"Yes." The girl behind the counter smiled once more. "Now can I get your order? Only edible stuff are on sale though, if you mind."

"Can I order you then? I'm pretty sure you're delicious."

"And I'm pretty certain now that you might be a cannibal. That's kinda gross, you know?" The girl said, making a face. "Let me rephrase everything. Sir, may I PLEASE take your order? It may range from somewhere that's brewed or baked, but definitely not human."

"A regular Java Chip and an Oreo Cheesecake, then."

"Oops, we're out of chocolate oreos. You don't mind strawberry, do you?"

"Whatever."

"Okay then." She grinned, punching the order on the machine. I took my time peeking at her nameplate— Hi, I'm Mikan, it read. "Under what name shall I encode your order, sir?" She said, her tan orbs flying back to mine. I ignored the sudden warmth at my ears and covered it with a smirk that made her eye twitch.

"Name it —"

"— it must be a name, not some kind of flirt, okay—"

"—Polka dots."

"Alright then, Polka dots it is —no wait, why?"

"Isn't it your underwear pattern?"

"Wh-what?" She stammered, face burning pink, pulling down her skirt, which was conservative enough to brush her knees.

"I guess I'm right then."

"N-no! It's perfectly wrong! I am not wearing polka-dotted underwear! P-please take a seat and sit still for a moment while I prepare the food!"

"Can I watch you?"

"NO!"

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><p>Natsume smirked greatly as the brunette set his food down the table and sat across him.<p>

"You were definitely not invited, but it's nice of you to join me."

"Excuse you, but I'm not joining you. This is punishment." She sighed. One of Natsume's eyebrows quirked up high.

"How is joining the most breathtaking creature in the planet punishment?" Natsume said, grinning at her crookedly. She actually laughed a little, and he found butterflies buzzing on his stomach. It made him sick, but at the same time, it was a beautiful feeling.

The girl then snorted and put her tongue out to mock him. "Because, for one, you are not breathtaking. Two, I messed something that's gonna cost something large in the kitchen and three, I have to stay with the most annoying customer I met the whole day for fifteen minutes while he is on his meal or they'll fire me."

"I'm the most annoying?" The boy asked with such incredulity that he though Mikan wouldn't catch the sarcasm.

"Nope, but you're the one who hasn't scampered off yet or is at least seemingly safe — except for the suspected cannibalism-thing earlier —"

"—That was me flirting, you idiot—"

"—because I am so not approaching that pedophile, drug king, black sheep and creepy guy on a pink sparkly jumpsuit and his friend wearing that neon yellow tutu!" She pouted, then fished an iphone from her pocket and began to browse on it.

"Why are you working, anyway? You don't actually look like you need a job."

Her eye left the screen and met his. She pocketed the thing and grinned up at him. "My grandpa stopped funding my sugar needs."

"Your — what?"

"Sugar needs! I need sugar to survive because duh, who doesn't? My granpa thinks I spend too much on food that we're bankrupt, but he's lying. Plus, he wanted me to apparently get a little more responsible, so here I am. This job is amazing, though. Are you in college yet? And oh, my name is Mikan."

"You do talk a lot, don't you, Polka?"

"Hey! I said Mikan!"

"Whatever."

"So what's your name?"

"Natsume."

"Natsume!" She repeated happily. She clasped her hands together, her eyes bulging out with the extremely ridiculously large smile on her face. "Natsume, that means summer, right? And it's like, winter! Gosh, you might actually warm up my holidays!"

"I can warm you up at night, too."

"Pervert! Natsume pervert! But so anyway, which school do you go to?"

"Alice University."

"Oooh! I'm transferring there next week! Holy tangerines, I hope we get to be classmates."

"You're transferring? Why?"

"My best friend left me in the province six months ago to study here, because they say this school's amazing and that she was granted a scholarship. After the agonizing months without her, my whole town thought I seriously can't live without her, so they convinced grandpa to ship me off here with her. It took sime time for him to think it through, but since I've got a scholarship too, he had to agree."

"YOU were granted a SCHOLARSHIP?"

"Yes, why?"

"I never knew Alice University granted scholarships to idiots!"

"You meanie!" Mikan pouted, then huffed. "For your information, I topped the entrance exam!"

"So you were the Yukihira girl?"

"I am Mikan Yukihira yes, because that's my daddy's surname. I'm known as Mikan Sakura in the province because that's granpa's surname."

"Like I care."

"Are my fifteen minutes up yet?" Mikan suddenly asked. Natsume glanced at his watch then rolled his eyes.

"No, you've still got six minutes." He lied. (The truth was Mikan spoke six minutes too much, but he liked her babbles)

"Oh," the idiot said. "Oh. I thought... Time's just so slow, I guess?"

"Apparently."

"So how old are you?"

"How about you?"

"I'm sixteen." She said. "And I was asking you, sir."

"I'm nearly seventeen."

"Nearly seventeen? Oooh! When is your birthday? It must be near, the year is ending in a month and three days!"

"Well, I dunno... November 27, I think?"

"November TWENTY-SEVEN?!" Mikan suddenly bursted, standing up and slapping her palms on the table. Everyone in the cafe stared at her, but it was not like she cared. "That's-" she quickly glanced at the watch "-three hours from now!"

"Really?" Natsume wondered. "Shit, I really am getting older."

"Why aren't you home, spending time with your girlfriend, friends or staying late in a hidden, small place like this?"

"Because one, I don't have a girlfriend, two, my Xbox is busted and so is my PS3, three, it isn't my birthday yet and four, I'm in this rundown old place so my friends won't find me in my condo, barricade it and hold a fucking party with pink balloons and sparkly purple gift wrappers. If you didn't know better, you'd think my buds are gay. And 'sides, they won't surely find me here."

"Eh? Are you saying you don't wanna celebrate your birthday?"

"I never celebrate my birthdays. It's like congratulating yourself for being closer to death."

"Don't be mean like that! Birthdays are about celebrating because you survived a year!"

"As you say, idiot. Can you get me another coffee?"

"Oooh, you liked it! You liked my coffee!"

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure that's not what I exactly ordered."

"It is! It's Java Chip-flavored... But I added something my creation. Just a bit."

"Is it poison?"

"Heck no!"

"Just get me another one."

"Aye!"

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><p>Natsume was actually surprised. It turned out that Mikan was actually creating her own coffee flavors and they really did taste as good as they smelt - she made Natsume try out twelve different kinds of inventions, with 3 out of 12 he didn't like (one was flower tea-flavored; one had vegetables and another had peppers and chili.). She also then baked him a cake and discovered that he had a thing for strawberries.<p>

Her boss, a good man named Narumi Anjo (who also taught at Alice U), completely let her do as she wanted, seeing that there were barely any more customers at this late hour. By around eleven, he bade them good night and was replaced by an old man who acknowledged the pair and closed himself in the office. The night shift waitress sleepily (and quietly) stayed behind the counter half-asleep as they talked.

He found out that her parents were both abroad and she has never seen them; her mother was either in the North or South pole, a scientist, and her father was part of a discovery team, and was also part-time teacher at Harvard. They sent mail, money and gifts a lot, but cannot go home for reasons her grandfather did not name.

He also learnt that she dreamt of either being a pastry chef or a pre-school teacher when the time came - she liked kids as much as she wanted sweets. He told her that both jobs would suit her well, much to her delight, but advised her that being a pastry chef would make her earn more.

She then convinced him to tell his story. She learnt that he, as well, managed to grab a scholarship from the school ever since he was in pre-school, but his family rejected because they could afford well. She learnt that he was Natsume Hyuuga, eldest and only son of Ioran Hyuuga, the CEO of a large commercial company that tops high on the rankings of the business world. And Natsume was heir to the company.

His mother worked abroad as well, and he rarely sees her. He lives alone in a condo passed down to him from his grandfather, who now lived back at their estate from old age.

Natsume found it amazing to spill his life to a person who actually cared, and to find out so much about another person in a span of hours. He found it hard to believe, seeing that a girl he had only met for a few hours could make his face burn and butterflies to buzz around his stomach.

Before they knew it, the clock read 12:07am, when she had suddenly sprang from her seat, ran to the kitchen and went up carrying a small strawberry cheesecake with a "happy birthday!" written with frosting, and a lighted candle shaped like a 17 on top.

He was so weirded out he tried to push it away, but the girl insisted. The moment he wished and blew his candle, the door boomed open and in came the gang with the said ridiculous cakes and presents.

He growled at how they found him and they all shrugged and pointed to a girl with amethyst eyes and cropped black hair — who, as well, turned out to be Mikan's best friend, Hotaru.

The other people included Natsume's partner-in-crime and Hotaru's boyfriend Ruka, who Mikan thought was charming; Koko, Kitsu and Mochu, the gang's _Three Muskeeters of Idiocy _who Mikan found extremely funny; Anna, a good cook who gave her a taste of her new cupcake; Nonoko, an aspiring chemist who had Mikan sample her self-formulated pefume; Aoi, Natsume's bubbly sister and her best bud (and apparent crush), Youichi, who was Natsume's junior and bore the same attitude; Sumire and Wakako, two _ex-fangirls_ of Natsume; Misaki (a tsundere), Tsubasa ("_he's super duper cool!" —Mikan_) and Tonoichi (a pervert, according to Koko and Tsubasa), their seniors. They were a very fun bunch and were really delighted with Mikan.

Then they inquired who the girl was. Natsume told Mikan to brush it off, but she was nice enough to smile at them all. The troupe liked her and took her in, and Koko once referred to her as "Natty-chan's girl", much to the boy and the waitress's embarrassment. They cafe was a lively place that night, and the night-shift barmaid and the manager looked extremely surprised, but otherwise glad.

It was the best birthday Natsume had in his seventeen years.

And meeting her was the best gift of all.

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><p><strong>Review or favorite. :) Happy birthday, Natsume!<strong>


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